At a glance
- Greek companies are less productive than their EU peers. The productivity gap between Greece and Europe is much larger for small companies (3.8 times) than for the largest companies (1.4 times). Within Greece, the productivity gap between large and small companies (5.8 times) is much larger than their respective gaps within Europe (2.0 times). Digital-led growth is essential to closing this gap.
- Despite the progress made over the past few years, Greece still has significant room for growth in its digitalization efforts. According to the Digital Macroeconomic Index, the country ranks 22nd out of the 27 EU countries in terms of digitalisation.
- Greece has recently improved its performance on key digitalization indicators. The digitization of interactions between citizens and the state shows that public institutions are gradually becoming digital, with the country deploying EU-provided funding at scale to support digital goals. This shows strong momentum. Greece appears well placed to further improve its digital standing.
- The sectors of the economy that will benefit the most from the increasing maturity of digital commerce are retail and hospitality. If the right levers are pulled, Greece could increase gross value added (GVA) in retail and services by more than 20%, by around €1.6 billion and €3 billion respectively.
- Retail and hospitality businesses that implement digital commerce solutions have the potential to significantly improve profitability. Moving from no online presence to intermediate e-commerce maturity can increase EBIT margins by up to 11 and 13 percentage points for small retail or service businesses, respectively. The potential increase depends on the beginning of your business's digital maturity.
- Realizing this opportunity will require concerted action by businesses, nations and society. Efforts can be considered in four areas: building skills, building trust, building awareness, and providing incentives and capturing the potential to drive the growth of digital commerce.
Digital commerce is widely considered Become a catalyst for economic development. Many countries around the world are reaping the benefits of improved consumer satisfaction, increased productivity, and stronger economic growth. Although digital commerce is growing in Greece, its adoption is still slower than in Europe and other countries.
In the wake of the financial crisis and the COVID-19 crisis, analysis shows that Greece's economy is recovering, and the country's economic outlook appears to be stronger, as evidenced by a series of upgrades to its sovereign debt rating. We also conducted a study to explore how Greek businesses and the state can foster Greece's development, as digital commerce has the potential to be a central contributor to Greece's economic growth.
Our research shows that the development of digital commerce could increase the gross value added (GVA) of certain sectors by more than 20%. As the country's recent improvements in digital maturity demonstrate, Greek businesses and public institutions are capable of developing the necessary tools and leveraging digital commerce to generate economic growth engines.
The report begins with a review of Greece's competitiveness and digital maturity in the European context. We then outline three digitization levers – digitization of commerce, digitization of assets, and digitization of jobs – and assess how they can be deployed to foster economic growth. This is followed by an analysis of Greece's competitiveness compared to its European peers at a more detailed level, and the structure of retail and hospitality, the sectors of the economy where digital commerce best acts as a catalyst for growth, and digital commerce. (Chart 1) .
We explain how increasing the maturity of digital commerce in two areas of focus and hospitality can create significant value for the economy. According to our analysis, moving to the target digital commerce maturity level could generate €1.6 billion in retail (Exhibit 2) and €3 billion in hospitality (Exhibit 3).
Finally, we identify best practices and ways that institutional stakeholders and states can assist in establishing a supportive environment for the development of digital commerce and the digital economy as a whole.
